2.1 lakh subscribers added in November: COAI

Our eFE Bureau in Delhi

Continuing with the October trend of slow growth rates in cellular subscribers, only 2.10 lakh subscribers were added in the month of November.

Though this increase is marginally above the 2.07 lakh subscribers added in October, it is sharply lower than the peak addition of 2.60 lakh in September.

The total number of cellular subscribers in the country now exceeds 52.21 lakh, according to the latest data from the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

Though the COAI has not been able to zero in on the precise reason for the dip, it felt that customers may be waiting and watching for a better deal to emerge in the near future.

COAI officials also put the blame of the sluggishness in the rate of growth to the fact that the cellular operators were not pushing their business as aggressively as they could given the uncertainty surrounding the Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) based limited mobility phones, which is currently being debated in the courts.

The metro cellular population crossed the 20 lakh-landmark and continues to account for about 40 per cent of the total cellular
market.

Delhi tops the list in terms of total number of cellular subscribers in a metro with 8.3 lakh subscribers followed by Mumbai 7.89 lakh mobile users in Mumbai.

Andhra Pradesh continued to be the state with the highest cellular population at 4.07 lakh, followed by Gujarat at 4 lakh subscribers.